Chargers scouting report: 49ers

Chargers running back Mike Tolbert (35) is surrounded by 49ers in their preseason game. San Francisco, though 5-8, brings a tough run defense into San Diego for Thursday night's game.(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

/ AP

Chargers running back Mike Tolbert (35) is surrounded by 49ers in their preseason game. San Francisco, though 5-8, brings a tough run defense into San Diego for Thursday night's game.(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chargers running back Mike Tolbert (35) is surrounded by 49ers in their preseason game. San Francisco, though 5-8, brings a tough run defense into San Diego for Thursday night's game.(AP Photo/Tony Avelar) (/ AP)

Maybe it was the short week at work, but Chargers head coach Norv Turner was quick and to the point Monday in his assessment of the 49ers, who’ll come into Qualcomm Stadium three games under .500 and still not out of playoff contention. He could’ve added that two of San Francisco’s other four wins were over the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams, both of whom beat the Chargers.

Incredibly, the 49ers still can be the division champions that so many predicted them to be, most taking into account how weak the NFC West had become. Instead of living up to the expectation of being one of the NFL’s most improved teams after last year’s 8-8 mark, though, the 49ers instead have seemed to spend all season fighting themselves, firing one offensive coordinator, swapping out quarterbacks named Smith and keeping head coach Mike Singletary’s job in peril.

They’ve also had to do without the central figure of their offense, running back Frank Gore, who’s been on injured-reserve with a bum hip since Nov. 30.

Beyond their 0-5 start, San Francisco’s gone 1-5 on the road. Like the Chargers, though, they’re coming off a must-have win that actually was quite impressive. The 49ers defense, which ranks 11th overall and ninth against the rush, forced the Seahawks into five turnovers in a 40-21 romp that put the Niners within one game of the division lead.

Three players to watch

Alex Smith, QB: He’s been put through the wringer, sidelined for five games and booed lustily when it was decided to return him to the field Sunday, but the Helix High product is coming off a great game that earned him another start in his hometown. Evidently recovered sufficiently from the shoulder injury that went with him to the bench Oct. 24, Smith passed for 255 yards and three touchdowns, 195 of those yards in the first half.

Patrick Willis, LB: In conversations about the NFL’s best inside linebacker, his is usually among the first names mentioned. The NFL leader in tackles in 2007 and ’09, the No. 2 tackler in ’08, Willis has four games this season with double-digit stops and already a career-high five sacks. He left the Seattle game with a hand injury, but to no one’s surprise, returned to play.

Bryan Westbrook, RB: In the absence of Gore, rookie Anthony Dixon might be the one with more carries, but the veteran Westbrook proved more lethal as a receiver out of the backfield Sunday, including a career-long 62-yard, screen-play touchdown among his half-dozen receptions.

Familiar faces

Norv Turner was the 49ers’ offensive coordinator immediately before taking the head-coaching job in San Diego in 2006. The 49ers staff includes three coaches _ defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, offensive coordinator Mike Johnson and receivers coach Jerry Sullivan _ who’ve worked with the Chargers. Niners quarterback Alex Smith grew up in La Mesa and safety C.J. Spillman was picked up by San Francisco after his release from San Diego.

The Chargers and 49ers have played each other the last 23 preseasons, played each other every preseason except two since 1970, and there was that one Super Bowl they played. In between the exhibitions and the postseason, though, this will only be the 13th regular-season matchup between the two. San Francisco leads the series 7-5, having won six straight before San Diego took the last two, most recently a 48-19 road blowout of the 49ers in 2006.

Did you know?

Going back to the start of the 2007 season, the 49ers are 1-14 in road games against non-division opponents.

Quote

"Right now I wouldn't agree with it. Maybe in the future I would."

Head coach Mike Singletary, asked what he thought of the suggestion that no team without a winning record should be allowed in the postseason.